The structure of the Adult EAS Temperament Survey for Afrikaans- and English-speaking students in South Africa

Abstract

The responses of 273 South African university students to the items of the EAS Temperament Survey for Adults were subjected to a principal factor analysis. Four interpretable factors were extracted and rotated to oblique simple structure. Three factors provided strong support for the factorial validity of the EAS Sociability, Anger and Activity scales. Contrary to expectations, the items of the Emotionality Distress  and Emotionality-Fear scales merged into a single Distress/Fear factor. Low correlations among the factors suggest that Activity may be an independent personality dimension in its own right and not merely a facer of extroversion. In addition, Anger appears to represent a personality dimension independent of the broader Emotionality temperament proposed by Buss & Plomin 1984.